Out of the Order
by Gibs123
Summary: This story is based on the Final Episode of the fifth season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Ahsoka leaves the Jedi Temple, and with it, the Order, and encounters a whole new world as she travel throughout the universe as a normal being. Critique is welcome, but please keep it courteous and professional, don't just say something is wrong, suggest a solution as well. Thank you.
1. Chapter 1

Out of the Order

Asoka walked from the Jedi Temple with tears rolling down her cheeks every couple of seconds. Each tear took with it a bit of her pain, a bit of her previous self; each step took her further from her past. She regretted that she had to make this decision, but not which choice she had chosen. She had to do this. The Order had not trusted her, had not believed her; of all her friends only her former Master - Anakin Skywalker - had believed in her innocence. She had to break away, how could she trust the Order anymore? What's more, she understood her friend's reason for attacking the Temple, she did not condone the attack, but she understood why. She had herself sometimes thought the Order was not what it had once been.  
She cleared her mind of the thoughts of what had recently conspired, she could not deal with it right now. She walked through the streets of the surface levels of the city as she searched for a taxi stop. As she walked towards a known stop she passed through a market plain. She felt a pair of eyes gleaming at her from somewhere - exactly where she could not say - but she felt the tingle running up and down her spine. It was the same tingle she had felt many times when she sensed the presence of someone in tune with the Force. But this was different. She could not sense him through the Force, something else, some other level of telepathy was informing her of the watchful eyes. She walked to one of the stands and purchased a toga with a head cover, and, placing it over her head, she continued.  
But the presence remained. It continued watching.  
She finally reached the Taxi stop and hailed a cab to take her to the port. She stepped in and it sped off to its destination. But she could not shake the presence. She kept a good eye on her back. No vehicle was tailing her, nor was a speeder or camera drone, but there it was, the sense of overwatch was lodged in her neck. Suddenly the taxi broke from the stream and headed to a landing pad near the port. She removed a silver credit from her back pack and deposited it into the driver's waiting palm, and then continued towards the entrance of the port. She booked passage on a passenger liner bound for her home planet and killed the time in the lounge. When the boarding call for her liner came, she realised that the presence had not been there since she had entered the lounge. So she wrote it of to nerves. She took her backpack and walked towards a shuttle that would take her to the liner. She kept her mind and senses tuned to her surroundings, she was looking for that presence. But she didn't sense it again.  
She stepped off the shuttle into the liner, and followed a porter to her room. She had booked a private room for the journey that would take several days. He stopped at one door and handed her the keys.  
"Enjoy, Madam." He exclaimed monotonously before scampering back down the hall to help the next passenger. She swiped the card through the slot and the door opened. It was a simple room, no adornments or decorations on the wall, simply a bed, a cupboard with a mirror on the wall above it, and a small bathroom. But it was all she needed. She walked to her bed and sat down on it. She opened the cupboard door and placed her bag in. She then went to the bathroom to freshen up. She showered, brushed her teeth, used the toilet and walked to the bed. She changed her uniform, laid down on the bed and went to sleep. There was no need to stay awake now, she did not need to talk to someone - nor did she want to - and she needed to rest and regain her strength.  
When Asoka woke from her sleep, she found herself looking strait at something on her cupboard. She jumped to her feet, but no one was within the room. She quickly headed to the corridor, but no one was there either, and she couldn't sense anyone nearby. Satisfied that she was alone, she returned to her room, and closed the door behind her. She sat on her bed and looked at what lay on the cupboard top. Only then did she realise that there was a note being weighed down by the item. She pulled it out from beneath the hilt and unfolded the paper.

_Please do not be startled. I mean you no harm. This hilt is a Tamashi Ken, a Soul Sword. It looks similar to a Lightsaber, but is different in everything but looks.__  
__I am the presence you have felt watching you since you left the Temple. Be assured that I am a friend. I know that you have left the Order. I know that this is a hard time for you, and I am here to help. I also carry a Tamashi Ken. When you want to find me, yours will lead you to me.___

_Good luck, and use your sword carefully.__  
__A friend_.

Asoka folded up the letter carefully, not so much like someone afraid of triggering a trap, but more like a little girl being overly careful with something she held dear. She placed it next to the sword hilt carefully, and turned her attention to the strange weapon in front of her. It did look like a Lightsaber in some way, but it also seamed both less and more advanced at the same time. She reached out slowly, her hands wavering and uncertain, and eventually took hold of the hilt. There was no button to activate the sword, nor was there any indication of instructions on it.  
'Well that's useful!' She thought to herself.  
She felt hungry, but didn't want to spend the whole trip in her room, so she decided to head to one of the on-board restaurants. She took the Tamashi and walked towards the nearest elevator that would take her to the commercial deck. Stepping into the elevator she holstered the Tamashi. She proceeded to the commercial deck. She was confronted with a mass of shops, stands and swindlers.  
'I could have booked on a better ship...' She informed herself.  
But she knew that this was the best and safest way to travel. She walked over to a restaurant that offered several edible dishes, ordered the cheapest and took a seat way off in a corner. She chose the seat carefully, it offered her a view of the entrance to the restaurant and could only be approached through the one uncovered walkway. It was also nice and hidden deep within the shadows, since the lamp near it was broken.  
Settling in to the seat with her meal she mulled over what had conspired in recent days. She thought of the chase she had to clear her name of the charges against her, she scrutinised every detail of the case. Her thoughts inevitably drifted to the final meeting with the Council before her departure. Asoka recalled the faces of every Jedi present, how hard they tried to hide their embarrassment over the mistake. She then thought of the last words she spoke with Anakin before leaving.  
"I understand wanting to walk away from the Order." He had said,  
"I know." Asoka had replied.  
Anakin then understood that she had known of his affair with the Senator for some time, and had suspected it for much longer. She smiled when she pictured his surprised face. But a tear rolled down her cheek, her heart still stung hard from what she had done.  
She ate her meal without thinking of the matter further, and headed back to her room. She spent the remainder of the journey there. Mostly she cried, meditated and slept. She didn't spend time on the Tamashi she had been given, there wasn't enough room to really use it, and she didn't know exactly what it did. She would look at it when she was on firm ground again.

Asoka looked at the surface as it closed in. The shuddering finally ended after several minutes of relentless shaking. Asoka took hold of her bag and made sure that the Tamashi hilt was still in place, and then walked down the ramp as it was lowered. She was confronted with a myriad of smells and sounds; some commended themselves sweetly and softly, and others violently invaded, but none were unpleasant.  
She continued through the crowds with her cap on. Progress through the fields of onlookers was slow. She had only made eighteen metres of headway when the shuttle began its ascent. It had only lifted up four metres when a streak come in off one of the nearby rooftops and hit home. The shuttle fought for altitude for several seconds, its engines faltering, before it crashed into the crowd. Seconds later a massive explosion racked the landing zone.  
Asoka was flung to the floor thirteen metres further. When she finally reached a coherent thought pattern, she lifted her head. Black smoke billowed from the wreckage, several limbs protruded from under it. She smelt the sickly sweet odour of burning flesh. She lifted the scarf to cover her nose and mouth. Steps closed in on her, she could hear the tap of metal feet over the roar of the flame and the moans of the wounded and dying.  
"Are you okay?" The fleshy upper torso asked her.  
She was about to answer him when his head exploded. She took a step back and her legs gave way. She met the ground with a thud and black darkness enveloped her.

When she finally woke she found herself in a police hospital.  
"Where am I?" She asked a nurse tending a nearby machine as she tried to sit up.  
"No-no-no-no-no! You need to stay put." The nurse stopped her. "You are in a police hospital in Batario." The nurse answer in a sweet, feminine voice. She was short and stocky, and wore a white tunik. She sensed Asoka's next question and answered it sommer outright.  
"You were brought here from the crash site by a misterious man. He was covered in blood but refused to let us take a look and walked away. But I have to go now." The nurse answered before she left.  
When she opened the door a beam burst through her chest and she vrashed to the ground. Her body didn't even twitch, nor did blood come out of the scorched hole in her chest.  
Asoka saw the figure step over the body as it entered the room, and recognised it.  
It was Count Dooku.


	2. Chapter 2

Dooku walked up to the bed, in a slow, meandering way. His guard were never more than three metres from him.  
Ahsoka kept her hand under the bedding, and slowly felt for the Tamashi.  
"Poor old Ahsoka, you're all alone." Dooku started.  
"Not as alone as you think." She replied defiantly.  
"My dear misguided padawan, the order threw you to the dogs. Even you recognised that, and that's why you left. But I offer you another way. Come to the Dark Side, and I will teach all I know; with it, you can take revenge on the Jedi." Dooku spoke in a slow, antagonising tone, evil oozing out of every word.  
"Just because I am no longer a member of the order, doesn't mean I no longer hold their ideals at heart. I will never go to the dark side." Ahsoka was feeling for the Tamashi frantically as she spoke.  
"Such a waste." Dooku mused. "Kill her."  
He turned and walked off. The two droids activated their spears, the two ends bursting to life and crackling with energy, and began to close in on her. Each on one side of the bed they slowly encroached her. Ahsoka's searching for the Tamashi became ever more frantic. The droid on the left lifted his spear, as he brought it down Ahsoka's hand gripped the hilt. She willed it to work, wished that it would hear her pleads. At the last second, the Tamashi came to life, a black blade burst through the sheets and blocked the strike.  
Ahsoka felt a strange energy coursing through her, it was like a unique, new vibration pulsing through her veins. She leapt from the bed. Her own strength amazed her, in spite of her broken foot, her torn leg muscle and her hurt right inner ear, she landed perfectly on the floor at the foot end of her bed. She lifted the sword, the black shaft of light emanating from the hilt felt warm and safe. The two droids stuck out at her. The first came at her from the right, he thrust to her chest. Ahsoka blocked it with a sweep of the sword, and returned the favour. Her strike landed centre of mass, it pierced the droids armour and cut clean through. She lifted the blade and cleaved him from the nave to the chops.  
The second swung hard for her head. In the same motion from the strike Ahsoka threw the blade over her head and cut the spear in half. She spun around and cut his left arm off. The second followed suit and the head went soon after. The torso and legs dropped to the ground in a clamour of metal.  
She ran to the door, her motions were fluent and grounded; the pain was beginning to rear its ugly head, but was still barely perceptible. She ran down the hallway, down the stairs and out into the street. The pain was creeping up her right leg, its long tendrils causing her to wince each time it hit a nerve cluster. She would not last much longer at this rate. She saw six more droids coming her way. The fast agile assassin droids were running along the rooftops and walls above the crowds. They closed the distance quickly, Ahsoka had barely got to the corner. They surrounded her and attacked in turn. Each lashing out decimal parts of a second after the other in a coordinate death dance. Ahsoka could fend off or block the attacks, but there was no time between them to launch an attack of her own, and she was becoming less mobile with each passing second. Her leg was aching and the tendrils were encroaching on her back. Whilst she was blocking one of the strikes from the droid behind her, the one to her left sagged to the ground. Moment later, as she blocked the next attack, the one to the right collapsed. The remaining four assassin droids retreated, realising the target was no longer alone.  
Ahsoka collapsed to her knees, as darkness closed in on her sore body, she saw a dark, shadowy figure approach.  
Then she blacked out.


End file.
